Lions' women's basketball team suffers 68-56 home loss to Franklin College

Visiting Franklin College posted a huge edge in the rebounding battle on Saturday, and despite being out-shot by the Lions, recorded a 68-56 HCAC win in the Harrington Center. With the loss, the Mount slips to 2-5 overall, 0-3 in the conference, while Franklin improves to 5-1, 3-0. The Lions are back in action on Dec. 16 when they host the College of Wooster.

Mount freshman Lauren Hill (Greendale, IN/Lawrenceburg) started for the Lions and scored the game's first two points, just as she did in the Mount's opening game of the season, a 66-55 win on Nov. 2 at Xavier University. Today's game marked the team's first game of the season on its home court, the Harrington Center. The game was played before over 700 fans, many of whom came from Hill's hometown. 

The season-opening game at Xavier was made possible by the NCAA granting the two teams an exemption to play the game earlier than originally scheduled to accommodate the wish of Hill to achieve her dream of playing in one college basketball game. Hill was diagnosed last October with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a form of brain cancer which is currently an incurable condition.

Because of the public’s overwhelming demand for tickets to the game, Xavier University officials offered the use of the Cintas Center, and tickets sold out within 30 minutes.

Both teams had trouble today finding the basket in the early going. After a 10-all tie at the midpoint of the first half, the Grizzlies went on a 7-0 run over the next 2:30 to jump out to a 17-10 lead. Mount free throw shooting over the next few minutes enabled the Lions to stay close. Maria Sams (Cincinnati, OH/Oak Hills) fired in a basket with 2:51 left, cutting the deficit to 22-18 before Franklin ended the half on a 6-4 run to lead, 28-22 at the intermission. Franklin out-shot the Mount 32 to 24 percent from the field in the first half, as both teams made just one, three-point basket. Franklin held a 27-17 advantage on the boards.

Franklin College would push the lead out to double-digits in the second half by the 15:20 mark, after two free throws, while the Lions were able to cut into their rivals' lead to just nine points, on a few occasions, the last at 5:09, after a three-point field goal by Brilyn Webb (Oxford, OH/Talawanda). The Grizzlies, taking advantage of numerous second chances on offense, and shutdown rebounding on defense, grabbed their largest lead of the game at 68-51 with just over 1 1/2 minutes to play in the game. The Lions out-shot Franklin, 48 to 38 percent from the field in the second half, but were out-rebounded 26-12 over the final 20 minutes of action. The Grizzlies also connected on 15-of-16 free throws in the final half, to the Mount's seven-of-15 from the charity stripe.

Tara Dennis (Batavia, OH/Williamsburg) led the Lions with a game-high 18 points and also grabbed nine rebounds. Erica Walsh (Louisville, KY/Sacred Heart Academy) chipped in 11 points while Webb added 10 points. Franklin College had four players score in double-figures.